With online PPC ads, your company gets one chance to appeal to a consumer. That ad may be short, but it’s a powerful tool that can convey value and increase traffic. Designing a successful paid search campaign is about more than just luck or including basic information about your company. It’s an exact science that requires industry research and an analysis of what consumers respond to when exposed to online advertising.

The smaller the platform, the more value you’ll need to pack into a limited number of words and media options. Recent studies have shown that online consumers respond to three primary ad components:

  • Visual media
  • The promise of savings or increased value
  • Information that’s targeted specifically at them

Knowing this makes it possible to design PPC ads that hold consumer attention and generate better results; and search engines like Bing and Google have created tools to help your paid search initiatives be more effective.

Making the Most Out of Your Online Advertising

The use of pictures in PPC ads has changed the effectiveness of online advertising. People are programmed to respond to visual stimuli. This is the most powerful tool that any paid search campaign can use and choosing the right visual aids can exponentially increase results. Some search engines allow ads to include up to five images, and it’s important to make the most out of these. The pictures that you include should follow these guidelines:

  • They should be visually appealing and represent a product or service that you offer.
  • The most prominent image should also be featured on your landing page and should be available via your page to consumers.
  • They should be used to emphasize keywords; and may replace them when strong enough.
  • Caption images without detracting from their value.

From the other results, it’s possible to determine that people like to save money and respond to ads that have a more personal tone. The sales aspect is obvious and provides another component that should be included in effective sponsored ads. Personalizing them may take a bit more finesse.

Certain search engines will allow targeted online advertising for a fee. This inventories search results and places your ad in front of the group most likely to look for similar products. The data is there, it’s just a matter of accessing and analyzing it.

Continue to Evaluate the Results of Paid Advertising

In all online advertising, analytic tools are a necessary asset. Even the best PPC ads have a short shelf-life and it’s important to watch for declining interest. Track traffic before, during, and after an ad is run to measure its effectiveness. While the ad is live, it will experience a peak performance period prior to stabilizing, and then decreasing. It’s always a good idea to have another marketing idea in the works so that you don’t lose consumer interest.

Contact WSI Digital Path for access to the best paid search marketing strategies. Our experts understand the trends and techniques that can appeal to a larger audience, and we can create ads that work as hard as you